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Help a guy out with a deba

Hi all.

Little intro here.
I am a university student in victoria.
I enjoy cooking poultry and fish a lot since i have access to a pretty good selection of fresh fish and know some local farmers that i can get nice chicken off of.
I have been working with a western style knife for all my fish and poultry work.
After visiting my family my mom showed me a gift from her brother who visited japan a few months back and brought her a 4 inch deba. Which I sharpened nicely before giving it a go. Basically I fell in love. It was a bit small but i liked the feel and the single bevel is something new to me but I just loved it.
So I have been looking into these knives for a couple weeks. Been learning about the different metals and such and sizes and uses. The thing is I am a little unfamiliar with the world of Japanese knives. I have looked at and drooled over many knives but I am not sure which one would be the best buy and from which maker.

What type of knife(s) do you think you want?
Deba

Why is it being purchased? What, if anything, are you replacing?
Being purchased to deal with particularly rowdy fish and chicken.

What do you like and dislike about these qualities of your knives already?
Aesthetics- I think the shape of a deba is pretty darn sexy
Edge Quality/Retention- I want good edge quality. Retention would be nice but I have stones and love sharpening my knives as is.
Ease of Use- I have taken fish and chicken apart with western style knives and im sure the same general principle works with the deba.
Comfort- I like a comfortable knife.

What grip do you use?
Pinch

What kind of cutting motion do you use?
Dpends on the knife and whats being cut

Where do you store them?
Knife block or knife drawer

Have you ever oiled a handle?
No

What kind of cutting board(s) do you use?
Bamboo or the softer plastic ones

For edge maintenance, do you use a strop, honing rod, pull through/other, or nothing?
I have sharpening stones so I plan to use those.

Have they ever been sharpened?
My knives are all sharp.

What is your budget?
250-300
What do you cook and how often?
I am near the ocean so fresh fish is something I do enjoy as well as chicken.
Special requests(Country of origin/type of wood/etc)?
Wood dosnt really matter.
I was hoping for a Japanese knife.

I know there's occasionally mention of using a deba for chicken, but I don't think I'd ever use my own deba on a chicken. It's not really what it's made for - it's a specialized knife for fish. However, it *is* really nice on fish

165mm or 180mm ought to do ya nicely I think (so yeah, 6-8" is about right but deba are measured in mm)

I'll leave it to the other guys to suggest specific makes. Once again, welcome aboard!

Welcome CowPow. You'll get a lot of good feedback here but a Deba is really a fish butcher knife. I'm sure it could double duty as a chicken knife too but its not designed for that. You'll want a Honesuki for that task. I have a blue #2 from Ichimonji sold here http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-SAK...item35bafa2088

Except that I have the 195 length. You choose the length depending on what sized fish your cutting.

I bought mine about six months ago for a fishing trip that never materialized. To date the knife has not been used. I'm ok with that cause I'm a knife-nut and thats what we do. Buy expensive knifes to look at and use them sometimes. As in the case of Salty. He has posted a $4000 knife for sale that he hasn't used. Thats not a typo that a four with three zeros after it. He's our hero. LOL

Welcome and good luck in your search! Oh yeah, what Bieniek said! Link is http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/ Jon is very knowledgeable and most helpful, more importantly he will not push you to buy something you don't want/need--give him a call.

once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right

From what I have seen on youtube and read online many people have suggested using it as a chicken knife that is why I assumed it would do the trick as well.

Sorry about the inches thing but ya 165-185mm is what Im looking for.

I am a knife fan too so spending some money on a knife is ok but I do want it to be functional. As well I have a fetish for sharp pointy things so if i can get a scary sharp edge on it I will be happy.

I think the thinking behind using a deba for chicken is that it's a heavy stout-looking blade. I happen to love using deba... on fish... and I really wouldn't pick up any of them for chicken. If I'm sectioning out the chicken, it's not really the right profile shape to me and I don't really want to use a single-bevel edge on the ribs of the chicken. If I'm actually scraping meat off bone, no way I'm using a single-bevel knife like that. I wouldn't even do that with some of my thinner-edged double-bevels.

Some of the folks around here have the Yoshihiro honkasumi knives from the eBay seller. JKI has a line (Gesshin Uraku?) made by Yoshihiro but to their specifications using white steel hagane and finished at a honkasumi level. Best thing with JKI, if you decide to go with a Yoshihiro deba is that Jon will make sure you're getting a good blade whereas I'm not sure the eBay sellers are quite as careful about their wares.